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WAPA progress on STX

Anyone see any signs of power restoration progress on STX lately? They seemed to be reporting steady progress up until midle of last week. Last week they claimed crews continued work on a double circuit for Feeders 6A and 6B from the Richmond Power Plant toward Club St. Croix and 5 pts with a goal of having power restored up to 5 pts by the weekend but I guess that didn't happen. Oh boy, that's about a half mile depending on where the lines are run. They originally said they only needed to plant 7 poles for that work. They also claimed crews completed the planting of replacement poles up to the Hannah’s Rest intersection. They were off Friday afternoon for the funeral of the lineman who died on STT. Supposedly a lot of material was shipped to STX after Irma that's probably left them short on STX, at least initially.

They reported two weeks ago on bringing 240 linemen from 4 mainland utility companies and equipment into the territory to split among islands implying they were to start arriving by now and into the middle of the month. Last week they said they held a planning meeting with officials of one company map out the work for their crews due to arrive mid-month.

WAPA hasn't really reported on their progress on completing the damage assessment much less published the recovery plan/schedule they promised.

mostly I see debris removal crews but I've seen some electrical work as well.

There was a [URL="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/abinazir/2011/06/15/what-are-chances-you-would-be-born/"]1: 400,000,000,000,000[/URL] chance of you being born: what have you done with your miraculous life today?

"• Restoration and reconstruction work continued in both districts on Monday. The focus remains on reconstructing the backbone of the electrical system. The primary electrical circuits that are not currently energized must be reconstructed prior to service restoration to commercial or residential customers.
• On St. Croix, following last week’s installation of new utility poles from the Richmond power plant to Five Corners, crews continued stringing new primary lines along the path of Feeder 6A. On Monday, two additional buildings at the JFK housing community were energized and almost a dozen street lights were energized from the power plant to the LBJ housing community."

I did read earlier that linemen were going to be coming in over time in groups, as the supplies (poles and such) became available. No sense having workmen here with no supplies. Mapp said about 2 weeks ago that supplies had been ordered for STX. Took a few weeks for the bulk of Irma stuff to come in for STT/STJ.

I did read earlier that linemen were going to be coming in over time in groups, as the supplies (poles and such) became available. No sense having workmen here with no supplies. Mapp said about 2 weeks ago that supplies had been ordered for STX. Took a few weeks for the bulk of Irma stuff to come in for STT/STJ.

The reports of additional linemen have also stated equipment and supplies would be coming with them, no specifics.

Have the debris removal crews been clearing downed poles and wires also?

I currently live in Illinois and there is a large group of our lineman being sent to the VI. They weren't sure as to the details yet as to where exactly they were going though when I talked to my friend who is going on Sunday. But they are for sure coming!

I currently live in Illinois and there is a large group of our lineman being sent to the VI. They weren't sure as to the details yet as to where exactly they were going though when I talked to my friend who is going on Sunday. But they are for sure coming!

WAPA said linemen were coming from Haugland Energy NY, BBC Electric Services Inc. of Missouri and Northeast Public Power Association. Perhaps the Illinois crews are with BBC Electric.

WAPA reported on Sept 24th "WAPA continues to work jointly with Viya, the V.I. Waste Management Authority and the Department of Public Works on a clean-up initiative. This strategy is aimed at clearing the roadways of fallen cables, poles and other hardware and allowing both utilities to scrap the damaged equipment while the VIWMA gains access to public dump sites for regular waste hauling." but that's not really clear on whether it's linemen crews or WMA that are actually going to clear the poles and cables off the roads. Most likely only the linemen crews will be doing the initial clearing of the poles and cables leaving piles on the side for WMA to pickup.

I've seen crews just clearing power lines, lots of young people in vibrant yellow safety vests with hardhats on, there's usually at least 1 bucket truck with them and a truck with a trailer that they coil all the cable onto.

There was a [URL="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/abinazir/2011/06/15/what-are-chances-you-would-be-born/"]1: 400,000,000,000,000[/URL] chance of you being born: what have you done with your miraculous life today?

"Governor Kenneth Mapp said on Tuesday night that the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority would welcome 265 linemen along with their equipment to the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thursday. The linemen, once here, will start work territory-wide the following day, the governor added, noting the development as a major step in the territory’s power restoration effort."

I wish we could get a straight story on this as they've been reporting that linemen have been slowly trickling in for a couple weeks now and this makes it sound like they all show up Thursday. Perhaps they are just planning a welcome party and motivational speech for the whole gang once here.

"On St. Thomas,Off island crews are continuing to reconstruct the distribution network that will interconnect WAPA’s Tutu and East End electrical substations."

Lot's more progress on STT as well.

"On St. Croix Tuesday, crews energized areas in the vicinity of the Henry Rohlsen Airport on Feeder 8B as well as on a double circuit Feeder 6A. Removal of storm debris which include downed poles, power lines, transformers and fuses continued into Frederiksted in the Mount Pleasant, William’s Delight and Two Brothers areas."

"As the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority ramps up power restoration work territory-wide, with hundreds of linemen from around the U.S. contracted to help, the semiautonomous entity is advising residents to shut off standby generators when line crews are in neighborhoods restoring electrical service. A standby generator has the potential to back feed electricity to the grid which poses a severe safety risk to restoration crews."

Only if it's not installed with a proper transfer switch. Let's hope none y'all have your portable gennys ties directly to the main panel without disconnecting the main breaker.

"Restoration and reconstruction crews made steady progress in both island districts on Thursday. On St. Croix, line crews continued to restore circuits toward the Hannah’s Rest intersection and to Five Corners. Replacement poles were planted in the Golden Rock area while debris removal crews cleared downed equipment in Sunny Isle, Smithfield and Enfield Green."

"The first wave of off-island linemen contracted by WAPA to aid in its electrical restoration have begun to arrive in the territory. 260 linemen and engineers will be in the Virgin Islands by Sunday, another 150 by October 27, and an additional 100 linemen by November 3rd. They are joining crews from the Western Area Power Administration who have been here for several weeks. The off-island crews will be equally divided between the St. Thomas-St. John and St. Croix districts."

Soon come, soon come, soon come.

"On St. Croix Friday, line crews continued to work on a double circuit from the Richmond power plant along Feeder 6A to Five Corners and Feeder 6B to Mill Harbor. Some poles were planted on Feeder 1A, which serves the downtown Christiansted area, and along Feeder 8B on Queen Mary Highway. Crews made steady progress on another portion of Feeder 8B, preparing a circuit that runs through the Hannah’s Rest intersection, for service restoration. Debris removal crews cleaned up areas around Bassin Triangle and Golden Rock. Those crews will then focus on ridding various public school campuses of downed lines, transformers and broken poles."

I can accept that we may be without power until December but what I can not accept is why there are poles dangling dangerously and wires still in the roads getting snagged by cars. What has WAPA been doing for a month?

"On St. Croix, line crews worked Monday on circuits leading from Mill Harbor to Five Corners and on a portion of Feeder 8B leading to Frederiksted. Clean up crews worked in Sunny Isle and on the campus of Central High School."